Two Tory leadership hopeful frontrunners have made their pitch to members and MPs ahead of candidates being whittled down this week.
Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly launched their campaigns today before the first round of voting on Wednesday, when six candidates will become four.
Ms Badenoch took aim at the Conservative government she was part of as she said it “talked right but governed left”, while presenting herself as the only person who could be brutally honest.
Mr Cleverly focused on his experience in government – as home and foreign secretary – as he promised to bring back the Rwanda policy and raise defence spending to 3% of GDP.
Former business secretary Ms Badenoch, the bookmakers’ favourite to replace Rishi Sunak, said “a government that tried to do everything will likely end up achieving nothing”.
“This was one of our mistakes,” she said.
“We talked right but governed left, sounding like Conservatives but acting like Labour.
“Government should do fewer things, but what it does, it should do with brilliance.”
She said Labour are only in government because people no longer believed in the Conservatives, and “trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public” about the UK’s finances.
“The British people are yearning for something better, and this Labour government is not it,” she said.
“They are already making worse mistakes than we did.”
Ms Badenoch said her principles included personal responsibility, truth, the family, equality under the law and citizenship.
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She also said as a former engineer she knows how to “get things done” and can “accept reality” while politicians “pretend we can have everything, they make promises we cannot keep”.
And she sought to dispel criticism she was only concerned with culture wars, saying as equalities minister she had to look after “very, very tricky issues like race and gender”.
“I didn’t run away. And not only did I not run away, I defended people who needed help, and I dragged Labour onto our turf,” she said.
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Mr Cleverly’s pitch to MPs and members lay firmly on his experience as he pledged to “resurrect” the Rwanda scheme for illegal migrants – scrapped by Labour – if he becomes prime minister.
Avoiding criticising the government he helped lead, he said for the Conservative Party to get back on track people need to see it “focused on them, not just focused on ourselves”.
“The parliamentary party needs to lead by example,” he said.
“We must be unified, we must be disciplined – and unity is not the easy option, it is the harder option.”
To much applause, he announced he would commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence.
“You cannot penny-pinch your way to peace,” the former minister said.
The shadow home secretary concluded: “I know that our best years can be ahead of us, but only if we replace this useless Labour government.”
The six Conservative leader candidates are:
A new leader is expected to be selected in November.
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